Speaker 1: This is section forty eight of The Gilded Age. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter forty eight. It had been a bad winter somehow
Speaker 1: for the firm of Pennybacker, Bigler and Small. These celebrated
Speaker 1: contractors usually made more money during the session of the
Speaker 1: legislature at Harrisburg than upon all their summer work. And
Speaker 1: this winter had been unfruitful. It was unaccountable to Biggler,
Speaker 1: you see, mister Bolton, he said, and Philip was present
Speaker 1: at the conversation. It puts us all out. It looks
Speaker 1: as if politics was played out. We'd counted on the
Speaker 1: year of Simon's re election, and well now he's re elected,
Speaker 1: and I've yet to see the first man. Who's the
Speaker 1: better for it? You don't mean to say, asked Philip,
Speaker 1: that he went in without paying anything, not a cent,
Speaker 1: not a dash cent, as I can hear, repeated mister
Speaker 1: Bigiler indignantly. I call it a swindle on the state.
Speaker 1: How it was done gets me. I never saw such
Speaker 1: a tight time for money in Harrisburg. Were there no combinations,
Speaker 1: no railroad jobs, no mining schemes put through in connection
Speaker 1: with the election. Not that I knew, said Biggler, shaking
Speaker 1: his head in disgust. In fact, it was openly said
Speaker 1: that there was no money in the election. It's perfectly
Speaker 1: unheard of, perhaps, suggested Philip. It was effected on what
Speaker 1: the insurance companies call the endowment or the paid up plan,
Speaker 1: by which a policy is secured after a certain time
Speaker 1: without further payment. Where you think, then, said mister Bolton, smiling.
Speaker 1: Not a liberal and sagacious politician might own the legislature
Speaker 1: after a time and not be bothered with keeping up
Speaker 1: his payments. Whatever it is, interrupted mister Biggler. It's devilish
Speaker 1: and genius and goes ahead of my calculations. It's cleaned
Speaker 1: me out when I thought we had a dead sure thing.
Speaker 1: I tell you what it is, gentlemen, I shall go
Speaker 1: in for the reform. Things got pretty mixed up when
Speaker 1: a legislature will give away a United States senatorship. It
Speaker 1: was melancholy, But mister Bigler was not a man to
Speaker 1: be crushed by one misfortune or to lose his confidence
Speaker 1: in human nature on one exhibition of apparent honesty. He
Speaker 1: was already on his feet again, or would be if
Speaker 1: mister Bolton could tide him over shoal water for ninety days.
Speaker 1: We've got something with money in it, he explained to
Speaker 1: mister Bolton. Got hold of it. My good luck. We've
Speaker 1: got the entire contract for Dobson's patent pavement for the
Speaker 1: city of Mobile. See here, mister Bigler made some figures,
Speaker 1: contracts so much, cost of work and materials, so much profits,
Speaker 1: so much. At the end of three months, the city
Speaker 1: would owe the company three hundred and seventy five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Two hundred thousand of that would be profits. The whole
Speaker 1: job was worth at least a million to the company.
Speaker 1: It might be more. There could be no mistake in
Speaker 1: these figures. Here was the contract. Mister Bolton knew what
Speaker 1: material were worth and what the labor would cost. Mister
Speaker 1: Bolton knew perfectly well from sore experience that there was
Speaker 1: always a mistake in figures when Biggler or Small made them,
Speaker 1: and he knew that he ought to send the fellow
Speaker 1: about his business. Instead of that he let him talk.
Speaker 1: They only wanted to raise fifty thousand dollars to carry
Speaker 1: on the contract that expended. They would have city bonds.
Speaker 1: Mister Bolton said he hadn't the money, but Biggler could
Speaker 1: raise it on his name. Mister Bolton said he had
Speaker 1: no right to put his family to that risk, but
Speaker 1: the entire contract could be assigned to him. The security
Speaker 1: was ample. It was a fortune to him if it
Speaker 1: was forfeited. Besides, mister Bigler had been unfortunate. He didn't
Speaker 1: know where to look for the necessaries of life for
Speaker 1: his family. If he could only have one more chance,
Speaker 1: he was sure he could right himself. He begged for it,
Speaker 1: and mister Bolton yielded. He could never refuse such appeals.
Speaker 1: If he had befriended a man once and been cheated
Speaker 1: by him, that man appeared to have a claim upon
Speaker 1: him forever. He shrank, however, from telling his wife what
Speaker 1: he had done on this occasion, for he knew that
Speaker 1: if any person was more odious than small to his family,
Speaker 1: it was Biggler. Philip tells me, Missus Bolton said that
Speaker 1: evening that the man Biggler has been with THEE again
Speaker 1: to day, I hope THEE will have nothing more to
Speaker 1: do with him. He has been very unfortunate, replied mister Bolton,
Speaker 1: uneasily he is always unfortunate, and he is always getting
Speaker 1: THEE into trouble. But THEE didn't listen to him. Again. Well, mother,
Speaker 1: his family is in want, and I lent him my name,
Speaker 1: but I took ample security. The worst that can happen
Speaker 1: will be a little inconvenience. Missus Bolton looked grave and anxious,
Speaker 1: but she did not complain or remonstrate. She knew what
Speaker 1: a little convenience meant, but she knew there was no
Speaker 1: help for it. If mister Bolton had been on his
Speaker 1: way to market to buy a dinner for his family
Speaker 1: with the only dollar he had in the world in
Speaker 1: his pocket, he would have given it to a chance
Speaker 1: beggar who asked him for it. Missus Bolton only asked,
Speaker 1: and the question showed that she was no mere provident
Speaker 1: than her husband where her heart was interested. But has
Speaker 1: the provided money for Philip to use in opening the
Speaker 1: coal mine? Yes, I have set apart as much as
Speaker 1: it ought to cost to open the mine, as much
Speaker 1: as we can afford to lose. If no coal is found,
Speaker 1: Philip has control of it as equal partner in the venture,
Speaker 1: deducting the capital invested. He has great confidence in his
Speaker 1: success and I hope for his sake he won't be disappointed.
Speaker 1: Philip could not but feel that he was treated very
Speaker 1: much like one of the Bolton family by all except Ruth.
Speaker 1: His mother. When he went home after his recovery from
Speaker 1: his accident, had affected to be very jealous of Missus Bolton,
Speaker 1: about whom and Ruth she asked a thousand questions, an
Speaker 1: affectation of jealousy which no doubt concealed a real heartache
Speaker 1: which comes to every mother when her son goes out
Speaker 1: into the world and forms new ties. And to Missus Sterling,
Speaker 1: a widow living on a small income in a remote
Speaker 1: Massachusetts village, Philadelphia was a city of many splendors. All
Speaker 1: its inhabitants seemed highly favored, dwelling in ease and surrounded
Speaker 1: by superior advantages. Some of her neighbors had relations living
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, and it seemed to them, somehow a guarantee
Speaker 1: of respectability to have relations in Philadelphia. Missus Sterling was
Speaker 1: not sorry to have Philip make his way among such
Speaker 1: well to do people, and she was sure that no
Speaker 1: good fortune could be too good for his deserts. So, Sir,
Speaker 1: said Ruth. When Philip came from New York. You have
Speaker 1: been assisting in a pretty tragedy. I saw your name
Speaker 1: in the papers. Is this woman a specimen of your
Speaker 1: Western friends? My only assistance, replied Philip, a little annoyed,
Speaker 1: was in trying to keep Harry out of a bad scrape,
Speaker 1: and I failed. After all, he walked into her trap,
Speaker 1: and he has been punished for it. I'm going to
Speaker 1: take him up to Ilium to see if he won't
Speaker 1: work steadily at one thing and quit his nonsense. Is
Speaker 1: she as beautiful as the newspapers say she is? I
Speaker 1: don't know. She has a kind of beauty. She is
Speaker 1: not like not like Alice. Well, she is brilliant. She
Speaker 1: was called the handsomest woman in Washington, dashing, you know,
Speaker 1: and sarcastic and witty ruth. Do you believe a woman
Speaker 1: ever becomes a devil? Men do, and I don't know
Speaker 1: why women shouldn't, but I never saw one. Well, Laura
Speaker 1: Hawkins comes very near it. But it is dreadful to
Speaker 1: think of her fate. Why do you suppose they will
Speaker 1: hang a woman? Do you suppose they will be so
Speaker 1: barbarous as that? I wasn't thinking of that. It's doubtful
Speaker 1: if a new York jury would find a woman guilty
Speaker 1: of any such crime. But to think of her life
Speaker 1: if she is acquitted, it is dreadful, said Ruth thoughtfully.
Speaker 1: But the worst of it is that you men do
Speaker 1: not want women educated to do anything to be able
Speaker 1: to earn an honest living by their own exertions. They
Speaker 1: are educated as if they were always to be petted
Speaker 1: and supported, and there was never to be any such
Speaker 1: thing as misfortune. I suppose now that you would all
Speaker 1: choose to have me stay idly at home and give
Speaker 1: up my profession. Oh no, said Philip earnestly. I respect
Speaker 1: your resolution, But Ruth, do you think you would be
Speaker 1: happier or do more good in following your profession than
Speaker 1: in having a home of your own. What is to
Speaker 1: hinder having a home of my own? Nothing? Perhaps? Only
Speaker 1: you never would be in it. You would be away
Speaker 1: day and night if you had any practice. And what
Speaker 1: sort of a home would that make for your husband?
Speaker 1: What sort of a home is it for the wife
Speaker 1: whose husband is always away riding about in his doctor's gig? Ah,
Speaker 1: you know that is not fair. The woman makes the home.
Speaker 1: Philip and Ruth often had this sort of discussion, to
Speaker 1: which Philhilip was always trying to give a personal turn.
Speaker 1: He was now about to go to Ilium for the season,
Speaker 1: and he did not like to go without some assurance
Speaker 1: from Ruth that she might perhaps love him some day
Speaker 1: when he was worthy of it, and when he could
Speaker 1: offer her something better than a partnership in his poverty.
Speaker 1: I should work with a great deal better, heart, Ruth,
Speaker 1: he said, the morning he was taking his leave, If
Speaker 1: I knew you cared for me a little. Ruth was
Speaker 1: looking down. The collar came faintly to her cheeks, and
Speaker 1: she hesitated. She needn't be looking down, he thought, for
Speaker 1: she was ever so much shorter than tall Philip. It's
Speaker 1: not much of a place Ilium. Philip went on, as
Speaker 1: if a little geographical remark would fit in here as
Speaker 1: well as anything else. And I shall have plenty of
Speaker 1: time to think over the responsibility I have taken. And
Speaker 1: his observation did not seem to be coming out anywhere.
Speaker 1: But Ruth looked up, and there was a light in
Speaker 1: her eyes that quickened Phil's pulse. She took his hand
Speaker 1: and said, with serious sweetness, THEE mustn't lose heart, Philip.
Speaker 1: And then she added in another mood. THEE knows I
Speaker 1: graduate in the summer and shall have my diploma. And
Speaker 1: if anything happens mines explode, sometimes THEE can send for
Speaker 1: me farewell. The opening of the Ilium coal mine was
Speaker 1: begun with energy, but without many omens of success. Philip
Speaker 1: was running a tunnel into the breast of the mountain,
Speaker 1: in faith that the coal stratum ran there as it
Speaker 1: ought to how far he must go in he believed
Speaker 1: he knew, but no one could tell exactly. Some of
Speaker 1: the miners said that they should probably go through the mountain,
Speaker 1: and that the whole could be used for a railway tunnel.
Speaker 1: The mining camp was a busy place at any rate.
Speaker 1: Quite a settlement of board and log shanties had gone up,
Speaker 1: with a blacksmith's shop, a small machine shop, and a
Speaker 1: temporary store for supplying the wants of the workmen. Philip
Speaker 1: and Harry pitched a commodious tent and lived in a
Speaker 1: full enjoyment of the free life. There is no difficulty
Speaker 1: in digging a hole in the ground if you have
Speaker 1: money enough to pay for the digging. But those who
Speaker 1: try this sort of work are always surprised at the
Speaker 1: large amount of money necessary to make a small hole.
Speaker 1: The earth is never willing to yield one product hidden
Speaker 1: in her bosom without an equivalent for it, and when
Speaker 1: a person asks of her coal, she is quite apt
Speaker 1: to require gold in exchange. It was exciting work for
Speaker 1: all concerned in it. As the tunnel advanced into the rock,
Speaker 1: every day promised to be the golden day. This very
Speaker 1: blast might disclose the treasure. The work went on week
Speaker 1: after week, and at length during the night as well
Speaker 1: as the daytime. Gangs relieved each other, and the tunnel
Speaker 1: was every hour, inch by inch and foot by foot
Speaker 1: crawling into the mountain. Philip was on the stretch of
Speaker 1: hope and excitement. Every pay day he saw his funds
Speaker 1: melting away, and still there was only the faintest show
Speaker 1: of what the mind call signs. The life suited Harry,
Speaker 1: whose buoyant hopefulness was never disturbed. He made endless calculations
Speaker 1: which nobody could understand, of the probable position of the vane.
Speaker 1: He stood about among the workmen with the busiest air.
Speaker 1: When he was down at Ilium. He called himself the
Speaker 1: engineer of the works, and he used to spend hours
Speaker 1: smoking his pipe with a Dutch landlord on the hotel
Speaker 1: porch and astonishing the idlers there with the stories of
Speaker 1: his railroad operations in Missouri. He talked with the landlord too,
Speaker 1: about enlarging his hotel and about buying some village lots
Speaker 1: in the prospect of a rise when the mine was opened.
Speaker 1: He taught the Dutchman how to mix a great many
Speaker 1: cooling drinks for the summer time, and had a bill
Speaker 1: at the hotel the growing length of which mister Dusenheimer
Speaker 1: contemplated with pleasant anticipations. Mister Brierly was a very useful
Speaker 1: and cheering person wherever he went. Midsummer arrived, Philip could
Speaker 1: report to mister Bolton only progress, and this was not
Speaker 1: a cheerful message for him to send to Philadelphia in
Speaker 1: reply to inquiries that he thought became more and more anxious.
Speaker 1: Philip himself was a prey to the constant fear that
Speaker 1: the money would give out before the coal was struck.
Speaker 1: At this time, Harry was summoned to New York to
Speaker 1: attend the trial of Laura Hawkins. It was possible that
Speaker 1: Philip would have to go also, her lawyer wrote, but
Speaker 1: they hoped for a postponement. There was important evidence that
Speaker 1: they could not yet obtain, and he hoped the judge
Speaker 1: would not force them to a trial unprepared. There were
Speaker 1: many reasons for a delay, reasons which, of course are
Speaker 1: never mentioned, but which it would seem that a New
Speaker 1: York judge sometimes must understand when he grants a postponement
Speaker 1: upon emotion that seems to the public altogether inadequate. Harry went,
Speaker 1: but he soon came back the trial. It was put
Speaker 1: off every week we can gain, said they learned. Counsul
Speaker 1: Braham improves our chances. The popular rage never lasts long
Speaker 1: end of Chapter forty eight.